The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1887-05-27


Jefferson Davis aud Genera
Beauregard have been discussing
the ifs aud butts Of the battle Of
Shiloh for aAme weeks, and, oil
course, like the wsyward poFkeT
that attempted TO crawl through a
crooked hollow log into a corn-6eld
and came ont at the same side, they
both practically end just about
where they started. There are innu-
merabIe iEs and butts which maj be
plansIbly employed in discussing
the battle of Shiloh, bot the most
ingenious use of any number OF
them won't change even The most
trivial feature Of the result of that
desperate conflict 1t is easy to
say that if General Johnston had
not fallen early in the battle; or it
General Beauregard had pressed
the advantage his army achieved
early in the day; or if General
Buell. had not got there just when
he did, the final victory would have
been with the Coufederates; bat
just here the buts come along Ia an
overwhelming sort OF a way aud
things get back to just where the
actual facts left them.
II Davis aud Beauregard must
dispute about something relating to
the war now nearly a quarter of a
century past, they mag just as we'll
wrestle with the ifs and bu;s of
Shiloh as With anything else; bat
the n thing that the public will
see is that the dispute is simply the
breaking out afresh of a personal
feud that took deep root during the
war, and that nobody cares any.
thing ahont twenty-five years after
the war ended. Both Davis and
Beauregard have their places unal
terably fixed 10 the history of the
conflict, and no amount Of knock
downs between ifs and butts will
change them in any degree. The
ifs and butts of the war are an
innnmerabls host aud would be
more terrible 10 history than an
army with banners in the field.
The ifs could be played to defeat
and dishoner every successful mill
tary chieftain of the war on both
sides, Only the butts come IN and
halt the game before any substan.
tial result is reached.
If General Joe Johnston hadn't
got away from Patterson 10 the val.
ley to reinforce Beauregard at Bull
Run, Mcdowell would have been
victor; the first Major Generals
commission OF the war would have
been bis reward, and he might have
been the Grant of the army; bat
Johnston escaped from the valley {;
he reinforced Beauregard he de-
feated Mcdowell, and that's the
end of it. 1t Mcclellan had been
given McDowelfs corps on the Pc
ninsUla he might have taken Rich.
mond in 1852, but the fact is inef-
faceably Stamped on the annals OF
history that be didn't take Rich.
mond, all else is toying With past
and never to return possibilities.
If Johnston had defeated Grant in
his bold whirl from Vicksburg TO
Jackson the seige of Vicksburg
would have been raised, and the
name of Grant would never have
found It's way into a Lieutenant
Generals commission; but Grant
defeated Johnston in the most au.
dacious and perIlOus movement he
ever made, and the bat knock the it
clear out the first round. If the
Monitor hadn't got to Fortress Mon
roe just when she did, the Merrimac
would have been the mistress of the
coast; but the Monitor got there
and the story ends. If Pickett had
VOL III his charge at Gettysburg,
the war would not have euded at
Appomattox when it did; but Pick.
EFT was repulsed that defeated
Lee in the great battle of the war,
and that defeat ended all reasnna.
BILE hope of maintaing the COnled-
eraey. Indeed, there was not an
important battle tonight about
which plausible its could not be ap-
piled to reverse results, bat the butts
summarily end speculation and the
its vanish before the memorable aud
irreversible facts of history. Tue
war is over; all but a few BOurbOns
in the South and few Mossbacks 10 |
the North have accepted its arbitra.
meut 10 a spirit of sincere patriot.
ism, aud let the ifs and bnts of the
conflict perish with the sectional
strife that so deeply crimsoned the
history of the uOblest people of the
earth.